Okay. I’ll admit that I haven’t posted anything on the Blackberry Storm other than to say the following when it was announced:
This my friends is Research In Motion’s “iPhone Killer” given that it is touchscreen based and does a ton of stuff with Media.
Well, it’s been out for two weeks, and it would seem that I might be wrong. David Pogue of the New York Times absolutely rips into it when he reviewed the product:
The first sign of trouble was the concept: a touch-screen BlackBerry. That’s right — in its zeal to cash in on some of that iPhone touch-screen mania, R.I.M. has created a BlackBerry without a physical keyboard.
Hello? Isn’t the thumb keyboard the defining feature of a BlackBerry? A BlackBerry without a keyboard is like an iPod without a scroll wheel. A Prius with terrible mileage. Cracker Jack without a prize inside.
Ouch.
Granted Pogue is a Mac fanboi and I didn’t expect him to give it two thumbs up. So when I first read the review, I blew it off. That changed today due to the fact Pogue posted a follow up to that review. It turns out people actually agree with this guy. That shocked me.
Perhaps RIM has a dud on its hands?
Could that ey part of the reason why RIM stock continues to tank? The fact that RIM has trimmed their forecasts haven’t helped either. But it does add up to one thing.
RIM may be in trouble.
The question is, how do they get their mojo back? After all, “The Steve” doesn’t appear to be having problems selling iPhones. So they can’t entirely blame the current economic crisis.
Perhaps it is time for them to get back to basics. Don’t try to compete with Apple. Instead make a good smart phone that does e-mail well and come out with software that integrates that smart phone with enterprise mail easily. In other words, focus on the things that got them to the number 1 spot rather than trying to “kill” the iPhone.
Otherwise, they may find that their corporate customers mayt start heading to The Temple Of Steve Jobs Apple Stores for their next smart phone.